|
Sir
Henry Daly
Henry
Dermot Daly was born at Kirkee, near Poona (Pune), in the
Bombay Presidency on the 25th October 1823, the second
of the two children of Francis Dermot Daly by his marriage
with Mary, only child of Captain Hugh McIntosh.
The
pedigree of the Daly family is traced far back into the
twilight of Irish history. In the beginning of the eighteenth
century, the branch from which Henry Daly sprang possessed
estates in West Meath. As a mere lad Ensign Francis Daly
joined Willington’s army in the Peninsula, in company with a
still younger brother who was killed in the storming of San
Sebastian. In June 1814, he was transferred to the 76th Foot.
In 1818 he was posted to the 4th light Dragoons, with whom he
proceeded to India at the end of 1821.
In
the absence of their parents in India, Henry Daly, who had
been sent home as an infant, and his brother, were brought up
by their maternal grandmother, Mrs. Mcintosh. In 1840 Henry
was given a nomination to the East India Company’s service,
and was posted to the 1st Bombay Fusiliers.
From
his earliest years Daly was a careful student of character,
and was in the habit of keeping a journal “being assured
that the mere paper commital of one’s ordinary pursuits and
feelings tends to improve both”. He was a great but
discursive reader.
In
1848 the whole situation in India changed by the outbreak at
Multan. When the news of the Multan outbreak reached Karachi,
where Daly was serving with the 1st Bombay Fusiliers, early in
June, Daly obtained permission to join General Whish’s force
as a volunteer and proceeded to Multan.
After
Multan, Daly continued to lead the life of a soldier in India
during a period when the country was ever subject to risings
and insurrection. He was here during the Mutiny and
opportunities were not wanting to show that he was a man far
above the ordinary, both in ability and in personality.
As
the years passed by he began to wish to leave the military
life and enter the political. He therefore refused the offer
of a brigade in Bombay Presidency more particularly as the
long furlough of Colonel Meade, who was then Agent to the
Governor-General in Central India, was imminent. It was his
hope to obtain the vacancy that would thus be created.
Meade
however, postponed his leave and it was not until 1857 that
Daly obtained his first substantial step in the political
service when he was appointed to officiate as the political
Agent of Gwalior, one of the most important of the seven
political charges forming the Central India Agency. The
situation in Gwalior was difficult but the state was fortunate
in having the services of “Dinkar Rao” (Raja Sir Dinkar
Rao K. C. S. I.) of whom Daly wrote, “He is the one native
whose purity nobody of any creed or colour question”. All
mention his name with deference, even reverence. Henry
Daly had a great knowledge of Indian History and of the states
of Malwa in particular. He had a clear and concise conception
of Indian’ character, and, above all he possessed a perfect
temper, a buoyant, good nature and the faculty of impressing
his good spirits upon all with whom he came in contact.
Personal influence was the key-note of his success. By
frequent visits to various parts of the Agency—and no place
was too distant and no weather too bad for journeys even of
400 miles by
|
mail-cart—he
gained the friendship and confidence of many of the Chiefs,
and by degrees persuaded them to institute reforms and to
promote the benefits of their people without having recourse
to official correspondence.
In
1870 Daly took up the appointment of Agent to the
Governor-General, which he had already held temporarily for a
few months in 1869—an appointment he held until he left
India eleven years later.
General
Daly, from the first, evinced a great interest in education.
He instituted the Residency College at lndore, and paid close
attention to its work and progress. He took a leading part in
the discussion which resulted in the foundation of the Mayo
College, Ajmer; it was upon his representation that the
Government of India gave its support to the Chiefs of
Bundelkhand who subscribed to found the Rajkumar College at
Nowgong; and there is hardly a state in Central India which
does not point with pride to the schools and colleges that owe
their origin to his initiative.
General
Daly was a man of action himself and required that all
officers serving under him should be as active and alert as
he was. It was one of his well-known sayings that “a
Political Officer who could not jump on a horse and ride
fifty miles when duty called him wasn’t worth keeping.”
He hated all pomp and show, and ridiculed the idea of
maintaining dignity by outward and visible signs and
ceremonials, processions, formal Durbars and all functions
of like nature. Guards of Honour, escorts of cavalry,
salutes of guns he counted as nothing, and he discouraged in
his political officers and assistants any tendencies towards
that type of mannerism which All Baba* in his “Twenty-one
Days in India” alludes to as “paralytic swagger” and
“thirteen gun talk.” “Go and talk to him”, was
Daly’s standing advice when a Political Officer complained
of the difficulty of getting things done by any chief.
It
was in February 1881, that General Daly finally left India.
After his departure a movement was set a foot by the Chiefs
of Central India to commemorate in some visible and
substantial manner the services, which he had rendered to
the province. The Residency College at Indore was conducted
in somewhat meagre and inadequate buildings, and it was felt
that the provision of better accommodation would be an
appropriate tribute to the memory of one who had been a
pioneer of education in Central India. Subscriptions flowed
in, and in due course a handsome building, bearing the name,
“The Daly College”, and containing a full suite of class
rooms, was erected in a good position about half a mile from
the Residency.
Towards
the end of 1889 Daly met with a severe
fall while hunting. Being thrown on to his left
shoulder which had never recovered from his Delhi wounds .He
made light of the injury unfortunately, and as a result of
some exceptional physical exertion during the succeeding few
days, he was seized with a paralytic stroke, This left him
considerably weakened and he died on July 21 1895.
He
was a very great favourite in all society, and immensely
popular in India witn all ranks, creeds and races.
“It was his frank, honest and impartial mind and
acts and words”,
wrote the late Sir Neville Chamberlain,
“that won for him the confidence and respect of all
he associated with, European or Native; by instinct he
fathomed the minds of all classes of natives, and they at
once felt that he judged them rightly. They on their part
were at once led to trust him and accepted him as a just
judge and a friend who would do his best to see that their
rights were respected by the State.”
It
must make all who are in any way connected with the College
proud to have such a Founder to look up to. Besides his
simple unaffected ways he displayed his extreme
conscientiousness. In all his arduous labours, he was a very
brave soldier-being twice recommended for the highest honour
for bravery -the Victoria Cross. His whole life was an
example for all to follow.
|
